Jam by Jake Wallis Simons

As darkness falls on the M25, the flow of traffic comes to a halt. Time passes. More time passes. Then more. Drivers switch off their engines, then get out of their cars. And so the story begins ...In this bold, state-of-the-nation novel, Jake Wallis Simons brings together characters from all walks of life and explores what happens when lives collide on the M25.

 

A story about a traffic jam may not sound very interesting but this book had me gripped from very early on. As time passes and there's no sign of the traffic moving or even confirmation of what has caused the hold up, people get more and more stressed, especially as they have no food or drink and absolutely no idea of when they'll be on their way again.

 

 

What I loved about the novel was how it brought people together from all walks of life who may otherwise never have met. These include Jim, a grocery delivery van driver who has never married or had children and lives for his work. Also, Max and his wife Ursula who've been having marriage problems and have their young daughter with them in the car as well as her friend. Ursula is panicking as they're trapped in a phone signal black spot so she can't contact the girl's parents to let them know what's happened and that she's okay.We find out about a lot of the characters' backgrounds as well. 

 

A quick and enjoyable read by an author I'd never heard of before Jam but one whose other books I will definitely have to read.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.

It was created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books but now has a permanent home here

 

 

 

 

This is the first time I've participated in this meme. This week I got a proof copy of Another Night, Another Day by Sarah Rayner in the post from Picador:

 

Three people, each crying out for help

There’s Karen, about to lose her father; Abby, whose son has autism and needs constant care, and Michael, a family man on the verge of bankruptcy. As each sinks under the strain, they’re brought together at Moreland’s Psychiatric Clinic.

Here, behind closed doors, they reveal their deepest secrets, confront and console one another and share plenty of laughs. But how will they cope when a new crisis strikes?

 

 

 

Also two for my Kindle from Netgalley:

 

The Three by Sarah Lotz (which I'm now reading):

Black Thursday. The day that will never be forgotten. The day that four passenger planes crash, at almost exactly the same moment, at four different points around the globe.
There are only four survivors. Three are children, who emerge from the wreckage seemingly unhurt. But they are not unchanged.
And the fourth is Pamela May Donald, who lives just long enough to record a voice message on her phone.
A message that will change the world.
The message is a warning. 

 

 

Mother Island by Bethan Roberts

 

One warm June morning, Maggie Wichelo, a lonely young woman, arrives at the comfortable Oxford house in which she works as a nanny. Everything appears normal.
But this is the morning on which Maggie will abduct Samuel, loading him into a hired car, and driving him to a remote boathouse on the island where she spent her teenage years: Anglesey, known to the locals as M�n, Mam Cymru, or the Mother of Wales.

 

 

 

I also treated myself to the kindle edition of American Rust by Philipp Meyer which I've been meaning to read for some time.

  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

This week I read Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly and you can read my review for it here. I also finished Jam by Jake Wallis Simons on Saturday. I only heard about this book a few weeks ago and was able to borrow a copy from the library, it's about some people who get stuck in a traffic jam on the M25. I haven't read anything by the author before but was impressed with this novel so will have to read more of his at some point.

 

 

 

I'm now reading The Three by Sarah Lotz, I have been waiting for this book to come out since last year, it's published on 22nd May by Hodder and Stoughton but I was luckily accepted for a Netgalley copy on Friday.

 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (Jam)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

Jam by Jake Wallis Simons

 

The day was closing. The world was revolving gently, easing a new portion of its surface to the sun; London was moving along with it, towards the great darkness. Shadows were puddling under trees, stretching out from buildings, carpeting the streets.

 

 

  

 

Book Description:

 

As darkness falls on the M25, the flow of traffic comes to a halt. Time passes. More time passes. Then more. Drivers switch off their engines, then get out of their cars. And so the story begins...  

Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

 

Natty and Sean Wainwright are married; as far as she's concerned happily, and work together running their successful hotel in the Lake District. They've been together since they were teenagers and have two daughters, Alice and Felicity. Natty's friend Eve who she's known since  University has come to visit when they receive the news that Felicity has collapsed while on a school trip to France. Natty rushes to be at her bedside while Sean stays to look after the business and Eve offers to stay at the family home so she can help. When Natty returns with her daughter a few weeks later her world is turned upside down; Sean tells her their marriage is over, he has fallen in love with Eve. And when she receives an anonymous note telling her that Eve has done this before, she begins looking into her so called friend's life and background, it doesn't match what she was led to believe.

Sean is obviously a weak and annoying character, getting together with his wife's oldest friend almost as soon as her back is turned. Eve is a really nasty piece of work, someone who has no redeeming features at all and knows exactly what to do to manipulate Sean. As in the author's first novel DC Joanne Aspinall and her mad Auntie Jackie make a return in this, I love them both and hope we get to meet them again in her next.

I loved Paula Daly's debut Just What Kind Of Mother Are You? so was very pleased to get a review copy of this from Netgalley. It's another gripping psychological thriller, as more facts become known and family secrets revealed the tension builds and it becomes almost impossible to put down. I had to force myself to on Tuesday lunchtime as I was reading at my desk and had to get back to work. I'm already eagerly awaiting her third novel.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Easter School Holiday

 

So today the girls are back at school. One of the great things about my job is that I only have to work two full days a week, giving me plenty of time with them in the school holidays. This Easter break my Mum helped out with the childcare and they stayed with her in Bury St Edmunds for a few days and we've enjoyed daytrips to Felixstowe and Colchester Zoo. Roll on May half term!

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

I hope everyone is having a good Easter, I've definitely eaten too much and the diet starts tomorrow. This week I read two great books, The Facts Of Life And Death by Belinda Bauer and The View On The Way Down by Rebecca Wait. Yesterday I started Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly, an ARC I got from Netgalley.

   

The View On The Way Down by Rebecca Wait

Emma used to have two older brothers, but Kit died five years ago and after his funeral Jamie left home and she hasn't seen him since.  Emma is now an overweight teenager who is being bullied at school. She doesn't know what happened to Kit or why Jamie wanted to make a new life for himself away from his family but she'd love to see him again. Her mother Rose is almost in denial to her family's problems, putting on a cheery facade and trying to create the perfect home for her husband Joe. He's easily annoyed by her though and when at home spends a lot of his time in the shed to get away from everything.

 

This is a beautifully written debut novel that deals with the difficult subjects of depression and bereavement exceptionally well. It's emotional but I never found it heavy going and I read it quickly. I hope The View On The Way Down becomes known to a wide audience and the bestseller that it undoubtedly deserves to be.

 

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The View On The Way Down)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

Sometimes you start reading a book and know straight away that you're going to like it, this is one of those books for me.

 

The View On The Way Down by Rebecca Wait

 

And there they were again.

Later, they would recall this scene. Alone, they would study it for its secrets, trying to fit what they knew now with what they knew then. It was coming. Even then it was coming, even on that beach, years ago - only they didn't realise it.

 

 

 

Book Description:

 

An astonishing and powerfully moving debut novel.

This novel will open your eyes and break your heart.

It is the story of Emma's two brothers – the one who died five years ago and the one who left home on the day of the funeral and has not returned since.

It is the story of her parents – who have been keeping the truth from Emma, and each other. It is a story you will want to talk about, and one you will never forget.  

 

  

The Facts Of Life And Death by Belinda Bauer

Call your mother.'
'What do I say?'
'Say goodbye.'

This is how it begins.

 

 

Ten year old Ruby Trick lives with her parents John and Alison, in their small, rundown cottage near the Devon coast in Limeburn. She's a real Daddy's girl, taking his side when her Mum and Dad argue; most of the arguments brought on by the stress of John having been out of work for a few years while his wife provides for the family working in a nearby hotel. 

 

Women start to go missing, they are stripped naked by their attacker and forced to phone their mothers before being killed. Is the murderer doing this to punish his victims or their mothers? John is a member of a cowboy posse with his friends from the pub and they decide to go out at night, driving around to make sure everyone is safe and hoping to catch the culprit. He takes Ruby with him despite how late it is, but is she putting herself at risk?

 

A lot of the story is told from Ruby's viewpoint as well as other characters such as Calvin and DCI King, the police officers who are hunting the murderer. I loved all of them but especially Ruby whose ten year old voice and thoughts were very believable. Calvin's relationship and almost accidental engagement with his girlfriend Shirley also offered some light relief from the dark side of the story.

 

The Facts Of Life And Death is another excellent page turner from Belinda Bauer that has a lot more to it than the usual crime novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Waiting On Wednesday (Mother Island)

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to be published.

 

Mother Island by Bethan Roberts

 

One warm June morning, Maggie Wichelo, a lonely young woman, arrives at the comfortable Oxford house in which she works as a nanny. Everything appears normal. Her glamorous employer, Nula, who also happens to be her cousin, is so tired that she goes back straight back to bed. Samuel, the two year old boy she looks after, is pleased to see Maggie and can't wait to start crashing his diggers into the skirting board. Dedicated, efficient, and fiercely protective of Samuel, Maggie considers herself an excellent nanny, and Nula and her over-confident husband Greg have had few complaints about her work.

 

But this is the morning on which Maggie will abduct Samuel, loading him into a hired car, and driving him to a remote boathouse on the island where she spent her teenage years: Anglesey, known to the locals as Môn, Mam Cymru, or the Mother of Wales.

 

For Maggie, everything goes back to the island. This is the beautiful, menacing and mysterious place where she spent the summer, aged fifteen, watching her brother Joe fall in love, her parents' relationship disintegrate, and her uncle Ralph paint the glorious Menai Strait. The island is where Maggie's life fell apart, and it is where she will attempt, in her own way, to put it back together again.

 

Published by Chatto & Windus on 3rd July 2014 

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

The children are on their Easter school holidays so what with working and enjoying time with them I wasn't sure how much reading I'd get done. I did finish Burial Rites by Hannah Kent though which I enjoyed and also read The Bear by Claire Cameron which I was disappointed with, the beginning and end of the novel were very good but the child narrator didn't work for me. I'm now reading The Facts Of Life and Death by Belinda Bauer.

   

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Bear)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

This is the second time I've posted this as the first one I accidentally deleted this morning (as you can imagine I wasn't pleased). I've since finished the book and liked the beginning and found the last chapter heartbreaking, however everything inbetween was disappointing and I've given it a 3 star rating on Goodreads. I didn't find the child narrator in this story as convincing as in others such as Room and The Night Rainbow.

The Bear by Claire Cameron 

 

I can hear the air going in and out of my brother's nose. I am awake. He is two years old and almost three and he bugs me lots of times because I am five years old and soon I will be six but it is warm sleeping next to him.

 

 

Book Description:

 

While camping with her family on a remote island, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming. A rogue black bear, three hundred pounds of fury, is attacking the family's campsite -- and pouncing on her parents as prey.

At her dying mother's faint urging, Anna manages to get her brother into the family's canoe and paddle away. But when the canoe runs aground on the edge of the woods, the sister and brother must battle hunger, the elements, and a wilderness alive with danger. Lost and completely alone, they find that their only hope resides in Anna's heartbreaking love for her family, and her struggle to be brave when nothing in her world seems safe anymore.

This is a story with a small narrator and a big heart. Cameron gracefully plumbs Anna's young perspective on family, responsibility, and hope, charting both a tragically premature loss of innocence and a startling evolution as Anna reasons through the impossible situations that confront her. 

  

 

 

Aarghh!

I've accidently deleted my Book Beginnings On Friday post from yesterday. Really annoyed with myself and I don't think there's anyway of getting it back. Will post it again.

Book Blogger Hop (11th-17th April)

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted at Ramblings Of A Coffee Addicted Writer and this week's question is:

What do you think is the best book marketing tool? Blog, facebook, twitter, pinterest, or goodreads?

 

I  like Twitter, Goodreads and book blogs, I'm not on facebook and have never used pinterest. For me though I think twitter is the best book marketing tool.  I can post links to reviews on my blog via it and also put the authors and or publishers @ address on the end as well. Sometimes they retweet these so their many followers can read the reviews. I've also read others reviews this way and heard about books I might not have otherwise.  I've also received books from publishers when they tweet giveaways to bloggers. 

Waiting On Wednesday (No Harm Can Come To A Good Man)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to be published.

 

This week mine is No Harm Can Come To A Good Man by James Smythe. I love this author's books, particularly The Testimony and The Machine which I think have both been overlooked and deserve to be top sellers.

 

 

How far would you go to save your family from an invisible threat? A terrifyingly original thriller from the author of The Machine. ClearVista is used by everyone and can predict anything. It's a daily lifesaver, predicting weather to traffic to who you should befriend. Laurence Walker wants to be the next President of the United States. ClearVista will predict his chances. It will predict whether he's the right man for the job. It will predict that his son can only survive for 102 seconds underwater. It will predict that Laurence's life is about to collapse in the most unimaginable way. 

 

Publication date: 22nd May 2014 by The Borough Press 

Library Books

I went to the library after work today to get a couple of books I'd reserved. Now all I have to decide is which one to read first. 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (Burial Rites)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

This book as had some excellent reviews but I downloaded a sample first as I wasn't sure if it was for me. As soon as I started it I knew I would download the full kindle edition, I found it impossible to read the beginning and not want to continue.

 

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

They said I must die. They said that I stole the breath from men, and now they must steal mine. I imagine, then, that we are all candle flames, greasy-bright, fluttering in the darkness and the howl of the wind, and in the stillness of the room I hear footsteps, awful coming footsteps, coming to blow me out and send my life up away from me in a grey wreath of smoke. I will vanish into the air and the night.

 

 

 

Book Description:

 

A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829.

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

Riveting and rich with lyricism, BURIAL RITES evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others? 

 

A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby

A Commonplace Killing is set in London in 1946 where, despite the end of World War II, people are still struggling. Leaving their houses first thing and queueing for hours in the hope they can get a loaf of bread. One morning in July two boys discover the body of a woman on a bomb site. Detectives find out she has been strangled and at first presume she's the victim of a sexual assault but soon come to realise this isn't the case. The victim Lillian; unhappily married with a teenage son and elderly mother to care for; often dreams of a better life. Some of the story is narrated by her as well as DDI Jim Cooper who's investigating the case.

To start with I loved this book, it's an easy read and I got through the first half very quickly but after that it did drag in places for me. I found myself continuing through the last third just to get it finished and not because I wanted to see how it would end. I'm not sure why, perhaps because it isn't really a murder mystery in the traditional sense, the killer is revealed half way through the novel and after that the story and characters didn't manage to keep me gripped. Sadly the author died before her final novel was published, her husband transcribed the end from her handwritten manuscript and maybe that's why the ending felt a little rushed for me. I did enjoy learning what it was like living in post-war England. I've read a lot of fiction set during the war but not much during the period just afterwards, it was interesting to learn how people still suffered and dealt with those times.

Rating: 3 out of 5

 

Teaser Tuesdays (1st April)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

 

It all fell on her shoulders, always, and she was sick to death of it. She fantasised about putting her head in the oven, or swallowing a mouthful of bleach.

 

5% - A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby